Long-Term Monitoring of Drug Consumption Patterns During the Covid-19 Pandemic in a Small-Sized Community in Brazil Though Wastewater-Based Epidemiology
The abuse of legal and illegal drugs is a global public health problem, also affecting the social and economic well-being of the population. Thus, there is a significant interest in monitoring drug consumption. Relevant epidemiological information on lifestyle habits can be obtained from the chemical analysis of urban wastewater. In this work, passive sampling using polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) was used to quantify drugs of abuse biomarkers in wastewater for the application of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). In this WBE study, a small urban community of approximately 5,000 inhabitants was monitored for 350 consecutive days from 03/18/2020 to 03/03/2021, covering the lockdown, quarantine, and flexibility periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Consumption was estimated for amphetamine, caffeine, cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamine, nicotine, and THC. The highest estimated consumption among illicit drugs was for THC (449.5 ± 182 mg day-1 1000 inh-1) followed by cocaine (51.2 ± 25 mg day-1 1000 inh-1). There was a positive correlation for increased consumption of caffeine, cocaine, MDMA, nicotine, and THC with the relaxation and return of retail and recreation activities, expressed by cellular phone mobility reports (P-value = 0.0110, 0.0015, 0.0101, 0.0001, and 0.0163, respectively). Our study is the first long-term drug consumption evaluation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The observed reduction in consumption of both licit and illicit drugs is probably associated with reduced access, which can be due to the closure of commercial facilities during some time of the evaluated period, smaller drug supply, and reduced income of the population due to the shutdown of companies and unemployment. The assay described in this study can be used as a complementary and cost-effective tool to the long-term monitoring of drug use biomarkers in wastewater, a relevant epidemiological strategy currently limited to short collection times
Year of publication: |
[2021]
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Authors: | HAHN, ROBERTA ZILLES ; Bastiani, Marcos Frank ; Lizot, Lilian de Lima Feltraco ; Schneider, Anelise ; da Silva Moreira, Isabela Caroline ; Meireles, Yasmin Fazenda ; de Freitas, Mariana Viana ; do Nascimento, Carlos Augusto ; Linden, Rafael |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Subject: | Brasilien | Brazil | Coronavirus | Epidemie | Epidemic | Privater Konsum | Private consumption | Drogenkonsum | Drug consumption |
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